Hello everyone, I'm DunkyGod (old name : Bonbarman), a casual gold II player.

I main Darius for now 2 years on EUW server. I have hit 1.000.000 champion mastery points with him, and I'm for sure the first one to get at this point with the Dunky-God.



And actually...




So, I guess I can tell you how to play the Dunky-God a correct way. Cause, yes, Darius is the strongest champion of this game!
I wish you will enjoy my guide.

PS: MY ENGLISH IS NOT CORRECT, AND I'M SORRY FOR THIS. SO GO CRY SOMEWHERE ELSE IF YOU AREN'T HAPPY!!!

Pros :
- Ouch, he hurts a lot;
- Why do I can't even make him bleed???;
- Stop Decimate me please master!!!;
- Sustain!!!;
- Who can't play him?;
- Apprehend's passive OP;
- Scary when he is your opponent;
- Stupidly fun to play.

Cons :
- Very low mobility;
- No gap-closer;
- Get kitted easily;
- Can be counterpick;
- Hard to master;
- Misunderstood (personnaly, I got flamed almost every games because I play Darius).

Explaination :

What do I mean by "particular-champion", "particular-AD-champion" and "particular-AP-champion"? Well, they are the champions who will give you troubles during your lane phase.
Here is a list of the "particular-champions" you can meet to the top lane. But don't worry, if you listen to me carefully, you will just tear them to shreds, as any other champion!

Particular-AD-champions :

-Every ADC : Ashe, Caitlyn, Corki, Draven, Ezreal, Graves, Jhin, Jinx, Kalista, Kog'Maw, Lucian, Miss Fortune, Quinn, Sivir, Tristana, Twitch, Urgot, Vayne.
-High poke damages champions : Gangplank, Gnar, Jayce, Kindred, Pantheon, Varus, Zed.
-Very high burst damages champions : Darius obviously, Irelia, Renekton.

How to play against them? Play safe until you get your level 6 and at least your Cloth Armor. After that, you can try something, but don't overextend to much, you could get kill, and you don't want this to happen!! Remember that you have a jungler in your team. Usualy, a kill over your opponent is enough.

Particular-AP-champions :

-Very high burst damages champions : Akali, Elise, Ryze.
-High poke damages champions : Heimerdinger, Kayle, Kennen, Lissandra, Teemo OF COURSE.

There is not a lot of them, but they are your hardest opponents. So, same as for the "particular-AD-champions", before your level 6, play safe. After it, and if you have at least your Spectre's Cowl, you can try something by yourself, but don't overextend to much! Remember that you have a jungler somewhere hidden, killing wolves and wraights. He can be usefull sometimes, and could probably help you.

Conclusion :

The main thing that you MUST understand is : they are the champions that will give you troubles, even if the player behind the champion is bad. But they aren't unbeatable if you can play a correct way. You mustn't make mistakes, wait for them to make one. So, just chill out, stay cool, clean your neck, don't expose it and dunk them!

1st summoner spell :



Everyone needs Flash, especially Darius with his lacks of escape/gap-closer. Some randoms boyz would take Ghost on Darius instead, but this is trash. Flash is a great tool to catch your enemies. They will all the time run away when you show up, and it's annoying as hell.

Important note : Flash is not meant for escaping ganks or fights!! NEVER RETREAT!!!! THE DUNKY-GOD DO NOT TOLERATE COWARDICE!!!! Fight, survive or die!!! This is what Darius is all about! Don't be a coward, don't be like your enemies! The Dunky-God will never forgive you for this!!


2nd summoner spell :

---VS---

I used Ignite during most of my games before Darius's rework, and even after. But now, I have to make my mind : Ignite or Teleport?
Teleport is the only viable spell, either to get back to lane and get dominance, and of course it's a good tool to help your allies while they are in trouble. And because we have been nerf to the ground... we have no other options!

Use 9 Greater Mark of Attack Damage to increase your damages in lane phase. Remember that Darius is one of the few champions with abilities only scaling with Attack Damage. So, picking these runes is very basic.

Use 9 Greater Seal of Scaling Armor to increase your armor in late game. With the build I will show you, you won't have that much of armor when late game comes. And anyways, you will hit 9 armor at level 6. You'll just have to hold still until your level 6.

Use 9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for being a "dunky-final-boss" in late game. You will need to have a lot of magic resistance from runes, because you will only build a Spirit Visage (IF you didn't bought Mercury's Treads). In lane phase, you will have to wait your level 8 to get 12 magic resistance.

Use 3 Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed to increase your attack speed. Darius has almost no attack speed. That's why we need him with more and more attack speed, to get 5 stacks easier and faster!

Ferocity tree :

Darius lacks of Attack Speed. That's why we gonna have to increase it. With this, coupled with the attack speed's bonus given through runes, you gain 0.10 total attack speed (0.63 to 0.73 at level one!)! This is all that need our Dunky-God.

Use Double Edged Sword for dealing more damages to your opponent. 3% of increased damages is great, cause you will have to harass your opponent with your Decimate as much as you can, without taking damages yourself. And even if you get caught, 1.5% additionnal damage taken is nothing for the Dunky-God and his natural tankiness!

Vampirism is awesome, cause it increased your AA lifesteal and your Decimate heal. Your enemies will never kill you! It's even better if you start with Doran's Blade.

Why Bounty Hunter over Oppressor ? You haven't a lot of CC, so it's better for you to get more damage by killing your enemies. Because Darius is all about easy kills and snowball!!!! A Dunky-God who didn't snowballed is just an usual Darius.

Cunning tree :

Nothing to put in here, you deal enough damage right now. Let's be more tanky now!!

Resolve tree :

To go along with Doran's Shield passives, Recovery and Tough Skin will greatly increase your sustain in lane. Health regen : 10 HP per 5 seconds ; 10 damage blocked.

Runic Armor , or the mastery for Darius!!! Increasing your self-healing is great, and couple with Spirit Visage's passive, it is just "dunky-op"!

Use Insight for to reduce your summoners spells cooldown. A very important mastery, cause you gonna need your Teleport to keep a good pressure in the whole map! You will be everywhere... your enemies will feel it in their ugly skin!!

Here is a bit of Maths :
Base cooldown of Flash = 300 seconds;
Base cooldown of Teleport = 300 seconds;
Base cooldown of Ignite = 210 seconds;
Insight effect = 15%;

New cooldown of Flash = 'Base cooldown of Flash' - ( 'Base cooldown of Flash' / 100 ) * Insight effect
= 300 - ( 300 / 100 ) * 15
= 255 seconds

New cooldown of Teleport = New cooldown of Flash = 255 seconds

New cooldown of Ignite = 'Base cooldown of Ignite' - ( 'Base cooldown of Ignite' / 100 ) * Insight effect
= 210 - ( 210 / 100 ) * 15
= 178.5 seconds

So yeah, WURF!

Usualy, when you play Darius and an enemy see you, 2 things can happen :
- he will run away;
- he will CC you as hell, waiting for some help (cause no one like your forehead).
That's why Swiftness is great for you, because you will ALWAYS get focus and put in a corner by an enemy Nautilus and/or an enemy Alistar. And getting focus means you will die, but your team will win the teamfight! At least... if they aren't dumbs...

No need to explain why to choose Grasp of the Undying... this is YOUR mastery. It gives you more damages, and a very great sustain in lane. This sustain is increase by Vampirism , Runic Armor and Spirit Visage's passive... Just try it out!

Maxing order :


In-depth details :

Hemorrhage is THE BEST PASSIVE OF THE GAME. At level 18, if you managed to put 5 stacks of your passive on an enemy, you will gain 200 "stupid-dunky" AD bonus. And everytime you will damage an enemy, 5 stacks will be put on him automatically! This is all about Noxian Might (or Blood Rage, whatever)!


Noxian Guillotine is your ultimate, your DUNK spell, the reason of why you are playing Darius, why you are the Dunky-God. This is what will make your opponents cry a river, flame you "bicoz u plai e noube champe", this is this spell that will make your opponents ragequit. If you follow this build, you gonna deal on an enemy with 5 stacks more than 1000 "dunky-hot" true damage. It is insane! And you can use it every time you kill someone, because it resets!!! Easy penta with our god!! And even if you didn't killed your enemy with Noxian Guillotine, your passive Hemorrhage will finish him off!
Level 18 true damage without stacks of Hemorrhage : around 400.
Level 18 bonus true damage per stacks of Hemorrhage : 80.
Level 18 true damage on an enemy with 5 stacks of Hemorrhage : more than 1000!


Decimate is YOUR tool to deal free high damage to your opponent, without taking damage yourself. It's a great tool to punish your opponent when he wants to farm. Do you want to get 1 cs? Well, 200 HP please! Futhermore, you can heal with this spell of 12% of your missing health. This heal is increase by your masteries Vampirism , Runic Armor and Spirit Visage's passive.


Before Darius's rework, I used to max Crippling Strike right after Decimate. But now, with the nerf on Crippling Strike (QQ, where is the Attack Speed Slow???? I miss ya...), it's better to max Apprehend. At level 13, you gonna have your 25% Armor pen passive, and a very low CD on this spell. So, even if you miss your Apprehend, you can use it right after, and this time, you won't miss it!!
If you miss it again... well... you should go play Garen.


Max Crippling Strike at last. Because his slow doesn't stack with levels now, it's useless to max it in second. Max it out in last is the thing to do now.

Here is some combos you can put on your enemies in a 1V1 situation.

Against melee champions, like Pantheon, Mordekaiser or even Darius :

You can be sure he is dead now!


Against mid range champions, like Teemo or Ryze :

Mid range champions hasn't that much of HP. It should be enough to kill him.


Against long range champions, like Quinn or Vayne :

Against long range champion with gap closer and escape, you don't need 5 stacks to one-shot him. At level 18, and 4 stacks, you will deal around 800 true damage. Early damage given previously should be enough.

And here is the DUNKY-TF-COMBO!!! (or your "dunky-penta" combo, what ever!) :


PENTADUNK!!!! GG WP!!!! Hard isn't????

Introduction :

Here I will explain you why I have choosen these particular items to build Darius. There is a lot to say, so don't mind me if I'm boring! I'm trying to make of you a Dunky-God.


Starting items :

Upsides : - A "must-have" against ranged champions; - It will allow you to stay in laner longer than any other item; - Very great sustain. Downsides : - A pure safe start : it don't gives you any offensive stats; - Can feel useless if you try to trade your opponent, so don't trade without thinking! Conclusion : I would start with this in all situation now. I spited a lot on this item, but the Doran's Shield is very great.

Essential items :

You are now ready to get in lane, now here are the 5 items you MUST buy.

Upsides : - This item gives you a bit of everything that need Darius to dominate his lane; - It gives a lot of passives that fits the Dunky-God very well. Downsides : - Very high cost; - Feels VERY LONG to complete. Conclusion : Trinity Force was my first item back to season 5, before Darius's rework. And with the recent changes on this item, you can now build it! Darius got the highest base AD at level 18 (excepted Mordekaiser), then the Sheen passive on the Trinity Force is even stronger with him. You still have the Phage passive, that grants movement speed. But the best part is 40% attack speed and 20% CDR!!!! This item now belongs to Darius, and Black Cleaver is part of the past!

Upsides : - Magic resistance given by this item will be ESSENTIAL; - Tenacity OP on Darius. Downsides : - ... NONE! Conclusion : As you can see, Mercury's Treads is a "must have" for Darius. Your lack of mobility will allow your opponents to CC you freely, without taking any damages. With 25% tenacity + 15% gave by Swiftness , Morgana and Lux will cry!

Upsides : - Ohmwrecker's passive fits perfectly Darius, it is even stronger than the Dead Man's Plate's passive; - 10% CDR and 150% Health Regen; - Low cost; - Awesome underrated active than will allow you to destroy turrets quicker. Downsides : - Feels strange to complete; - Less defensive stats than with the Dead Man's Plate. Conclusion : It can feel strange, but this item is hell better than the Dead Man's Plate. Just with the Trinity Force, you will have 404 Movement Speed (ERROR 404, nope... I had to make that joke, sorry!). And because you will stay a long time in lane, and you will haave to catch your enemies quickly... well... just try it out! You won't regreat it. This item will even allow you to get 40% CDR, which is awesome.

Upsides : - Gives great tank stats; - Spirit Visage's passive works with your Decimate heal, your lifesteal, health regen and your Grasp of the Undying key mastery; - Low cost. Downsides : - ... NONE! Conclusion : Spirit Visage is a must-have for Darius. His passive and his stats fits you pretty well. And along with the Trinity Force and the Ohmwrecker, you will have your 40% CDR! It means : Decimate and Crippling Strike = 3 seconds CD ; Apprehend = 7 seconds CD.

Upsides : - Great tank stats; - The slowing attack speed effect is very strong; - Reducing incoming damages from critical strikes is a must have under certain situations; - Randuin's Omen's active will allow you to catch your opponents easily. Downsides : - Can feel useless if there is not any enemy champions relying on critical strikes damages; - Doesn't gives you any offensive stats. Conclusion : It is your last defensive item. There is always an ADC in the enemy team. This item is for him <3.

Last item option :

Here we go!! You have your essential items. Now it's time to purchase your last item. It all depends on the situation in-game. Make your choice.
I explained everything up there, check it out.


Potion :

You're done! You have your full build. But wait, there is more...
With the lifesteal given by Bloodthirster OR the Maw of Malmortius OR the Mercurial Scimitar... the Elixir of Wrath goes well along with your last offensive item.

Still, if you purchased a Thornmail because you are struggling against AA reliant champions, the Elixir of Iron is in this situation the best option.


Conclusion :

I don't know if you have read everything (if you did thank you!), but this is MY WAY to play Darius. You can find your way yourself with more experience. Just be patient, you won't regreat it!

I have a youtube channel where I put some of my gameplays when I have the time. I will upload some of 'em to show you how to dunk! Or if you just want to watch some videos... go on it!

Here is my Youtube channel :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVilhNqun3g2v1KDItjzGrA

I wish you will enjoy my "dunky-vids".

I wish this guide will help you to master Darius, and to become a Dunky-God, and make your opponents cry and ragequit.
I will keep this guide updated of course.

Have fun, and remember : Strenght above all!

PS : this guide has been approved by Darius himself!